Microsoft Surface Pro to Be Released February 9 with $899 Price Tag

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Microsoft today announced that its Surface Pro tablet will go on sale on February 9 in the United States and Canada. Originally slated to arrive in January, the Surface Pro tablet is priced at $899 for the 64GB model and $999 for the 128GB model.

The Surface Pro sports an Intel Core i5 processor with Intel HD Graphics 4000, 4GB of RAM, and a more robust battery. Unlike the RT version of the Surface, it is able to run the full version of Windows 8 as well as Windows 7 applications.

Both versions of the Surface Pro ship with a Surface pen, but the Touch or Type Covers, which retail for $100, are not included.

Anandtech took a preliminary look at the tablet, and created a chart comparing the Surface Pro to the Surface RT and Apple's iPad.

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Beginning on February 9, the Surface Pro will be available for purchase on Microsoft's website, at Microsoft retail outlets, and third party retailers like Staples and Best Buy.

Alongside the Pro, Microsoft is planning to release a 64GB standalone version of the Surface RT for $599, $100 less than the version that ships with the included Touch Cover, and a slew of new Surface accessories.

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With all new gear, especially something like this, I take a rather guarded stance towards it (shields are up!).

Very few tablets have impressed me up to this point, contrary to most of the grandiose claims made by many of them. However, I will say that the ability to run Windows apps on the Surface Pro, and as a result, have full compatibility with MS Office documents (Visio, Project, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint mostly), this one has me intrigued.

It's also cheaper than I was expecting. So, I might end up going to check one of these things out one of these days to see if they live up to the hype.

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The more appropriate price comparison here is to the MacBook Air (and Touch Cover or Type Cover keyboard needs to be included in that price comparison). From the early reviews I have read, Surface continues to be a compromised tablet and a compromised "ultrabook".

As a tablet it is heavy and much of the software is not optimized for touch.

As an ultrabook it cannot be comfortably used in your lap and the keyboard and trackpad are not as good as the MacBook Air.

I think the Windows 8 OEM's have better answers for the "convertible tablet/ultrabook" category than Microsoft does.

EDIT: According to Microsoft, the Type Cover is NOT included in the $899 price. They refer to it as optional in a caption for a picture, and when listing what is included, they omit it. So the Surface Pro price (with keyboard) is $1028 versus the MacBook Air at $999. If you are in the market for a convertible Windows 8 machine, I would look to one of the Microsoft OEM's that at least gives you an actual full-blown UltraBook that can be used in your lap, but can also serve as a compromised tablet like the Surface Pro. There is no sense on compromising both the laptop and tablet experience in a convertible laptop.

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Not at all, I use Windows 8 every day, it works great. Not a huge fan of the modern apps right now, but the start screen is actually pretty well done, the built in search on that page is awesome, and you never have to see it if you don't want to.

People who complain about Windows 8 usability have no idea what they are talking about IMO.

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All arguments about the usability of Windows 8 aside, this doesn't look like a bad machine. However, I wonder how much of an uphill battle it's going to be for Microsoft given the damage done by the underwhelming Surface RT. Can't imagine people flocking to this on the first day of availability even if it's the best tablet/mobile device out there.

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The more appropriate price comparison here is to the MacBook Air (and Touch Cover or Type Cover keyboard needs to be included in that price comparison). From the early reviews I have read, Surface continues to be a compromised tablet and a compromised "ultrabook".

As a tablet it is heavy and much of the software is not optimized for touch.

As an ultrabook it cannot be comfortably used in your lap and the keyboard and trackpad are not as good as the MacBook Air.

I think the Windows 8 OEM's have better answers for the "convertible tablet/ultrabook" category than Microsoft does.

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It's a hybrid device. The fact that it may be compromised as a tablet and as a laptop does not mean that it's not a great device. It's a new device category. In many ways, laptops can be considered as compromised desktops but that does not mean that they are not worthy devices to have.

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I literally just took back my Surface RT, first couple of weeks i loved it, then performance issues, multiple freezes, software bugs, wifi signal drops, and very iffy app performance between microsoft and third party apps I had enough. I loved the build quality and the feel so the pro might be the money since it runs full windows 8. Sadly the battery life is going to be a big issue for most people that are looking at tablets and not comparing it to a laptop.

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I was recently in a mall (Yorkdale Mall in Toronto) and amused to see the Apple Store and Microsoft Store almost side-by-side. So, I thought, OK, let's go laugh at the Microsoft Store.

I sat down and played with a Windows RT tablet. I probably spent 20 minutes playing with it. And you know what? I was pretty impressed.

There are some quirks, and some usability issues as compared to the iPad (you pretty much need the touch keyboard, Win RT is obviously optimized for NOT using the on-screen keyboard) but as a tablet that could run Office and get work done, this could be a strong contender. I'd wait until the next major OS update, because there are definitely glitches, but the potential is there.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that I would choose a Windows 8 tablet over Android.

I really like the idea of a tablet running "full" Windows 8 that I could run my desktop apps with, but like others I am concerned about battery life. Tablets have spoiled me for 8-10+ hour battery life, and the Pro apparently only gets about half that.

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I don't get this thing. It looks like they took some good ideas but jumbled them together into something that is somehow less than the sum of its parts. I can't imagine choosing this over either an iPad or a MacBook Air (or even one of the many Wndows clones of it). I'm sure they'll sell a few million of these but MS bet the company on it and I don't see this pulling them out of their slow downward spiral.

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I love it and windows 8. I feel that the chart should be comparing it to a MPA as well though. Since you have full desktop mode and it's basically a laptop.

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Of course it should. iPad OS is a phone OS. Just look at the Connectivity comparison. While it shows only WiFi for Surface Pro Surface Pro actually has way more connectivity options than iPad because it has USB port which (with a real OS) can be used to connect 3G/LTE dongle and many other devices.

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